December 2, 2005: Headlines: COS - Niger: Washington Post: I have a son with the Peace Corps in Niger. I'd like to visit him with a friend, so we will be two women traveling alone. Do you have suggestions about safety, transportation, tours and how much we can cover in two weeks?

I have a son with the Peace Corps in Niger. I'd like to visit him with a friend, so we will be two women traveling alone. Do you have suggestions about safety, transportation, tours and how much we can cover in two weeks?

I have a son with the Peace Corps in Niger. I'd like to visit him with a friend, so we will be two women traveling alone. Do you have suggestions about safety, transportation, tours and how much we can cover in two weeks?

I have a son with the Peace Corps in Niger. I'd like to visit him with a friend, so we will be two women traveling alone. Do you have suggestions about safety, transportation, tours and how much we can cover in two weeks?

Louisa Magzanian, Silver Spring

Regardless of the destination, women should always follow the same safety guidelines -- avoid underpopulated, dark areas, don't take rides from strangers, etc. -- though some places may require more vigilance than others. In Niger, for example, women should dress more formally in the tribal villages than in the capital, trading their shorts for skirts and covering up bare skin. But overall, the West African country is safe for two women traveling together. "Niger is one of the countries we rarely have issues with," says Barbara Daly, a Peace Corps spokeswoman, adding, "We have 131 volunteers in Niger, and the majority are women."

Before you go traipsing around the capital of Niamey, though, Evelyn Hannon, editor of Journeywoman.com, the online travel resource for women, offers some safety tips.

Dress appropriately, per their culture and religion. (Niger is 80 percent Muslim.)

Only take transportation and tours that are accredited or recommended by a respected source. Ditto for your accommodations. Also, reserve your hotel in advance, so you are not foraging for lodging after dark.

When registering at the hotel, make sure the staff does not call out your room number or name.

Before heading off on a tour, leave the tour company name and contact info with the front desk, and let it know your estimated return time.

Do not tell any strangers where you are staying. If you plan to rendezvous with a new acquaintance, meet at a popular gathering spot near your hotel, not in your hotel.

Journeywoman ( http://www.journeywoman.com/ ) also has a sister site at http://www.hermail.net/ , where women can e-mail other women who live at specific destinations or have recently visited there and can answer questions.

During your time there, Masaba Baop, of the embassy's visa department, says, "It's impossible to see the whole country in two weeks." Instead, she recommends visiting the capital, then taking side trips to nearby attractions, such as Agadez, where the Touareg tribe lives and makes colorful clothing and jewelry; the desert oasis of Bilma; and the W National Park, home of hippos, elephants and warthogs. Baop also warns visitors to take taxis or rent a car and avoid the crowded public buses. For more information: Embassy of Niger, 202-483-4224, http://www.nigerembassyusa.org/ .

When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

PC establishes awards for top VolunteersGaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in dangerWhen the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 yearsCongratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

'Celebration of Service' a major successThe Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here.

PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident"The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted.

The Peace Corps LibraryPeace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

Read the stories and leave your comments.

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Story Source: Washington Post

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